Nightfall
by OrdinaryActs
Summary: "Please see to it that you sit next to the person in the room with the same colored shirt as you, they have been selected as your partner based upon similar levels of intelligence as well as high compatibility" Rose looked around the room at her fellow trainees until her eyes fell on her apparent partner, a certain Scorpius Malfoy, looking smug as ever. Oh hell.
1. Graduation

**Disclaimer: The world of Harry Potter and characters in it belong to J.K. Rowling. The plot and various original characters are of my own idea, based on her wonderful works.**

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Rose Weasley was very much of an enigma around Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Nearly everyone and their owl knew her as daughter to two thirds of the Golden Trio, saviors of the wizarding world. Many classmates in her year merely knew her as a quiet bookworm, the one the professor would likely call on when no one else bothered to raise their hand. She kept to her close knit group of friends and family, although she was friendly to nearly everyone she met. There was much questioning throughout the years over her sorting into Gryffindor house, given her quiet nature and seemingly Ravenclaw tendencies. Even Rose herself frequently questioned the Sorting Hat's decision to place her in the house of the brave, when even she couldn't see the bravery that it had seen in her.

This lack of bravery became increasingly apparent as she stood waiting for Headmistress McGonagall to wrap up her valedictorian introduction so that Rose could give her speech. It wasn't a shock to most that Rose had received the title of valedictorian, her only competition throughout the years had been Scorpius Malfoy of Slytherin and Kenneth Jenkins of Ravenclaw. She wasn't sure how much of a competition they truly were, however, as she was not friends with either of the boys who sought the valedictorian position she claimed.

Rose looked out across the crowd as she walked to the podium stationed in the middle of the makeshift stage in the Great Hall. Four large house banners hung from the ceiling behind her, a Hogwarts banner hanging in the middle. Her fellow graduates were sat front and center of the audience, all donning black dress robes with sashes of their respective house colors. The students' parents were seated behind and to the left and right of the graduates. Her beloved professors sat in a row behind her.

Rose locked eyes with her cousin, Albus Potter, who gave her a thumbs up. As her best friend, he of all people knew how terrified she felt right now. She cleared her throat and glanced at her notes, despite not needing them. She may have been terrified but she knew exactly what she wanted to tell the crowd.

"Thank you, Professor McGonagall for your lovely opening words. When I was told I was receiving this honor I immediately ran to the library to research great speeches throughout history"

A laugh came from the crowd, amused by her obvious bookishness.

_Well, at least they think I'm funny_, she sighed internally.

"Despite all my research, I couldn't come up with a suitable topic for a graduation speech. I mean, I'm the valedictorian…the one who spent all her time holed up in her common room writing and re-writing papers. I completed nearly every reading assigned to us throughout the years. Every single one. I promise that only about half of those readings were necessary to do well in class."

A couple students looked at their friends as if they were saying _I told you so. _

"I missed out on a lot while I was holed away in my books. Sure, I went to parties when Gryffindor won Quidditch matches, I had a boyfriend or two,"

A look of horror came across her father's face.

"It felt as if I was going through the motions of what a perfect student should do, and through that I didn't fully enjoy the things others did. You're all probably sitting there wondering to yourself why this batty girl is rambling on about her unfulfilled youth in order to celebrate graduation. I'm telling you this because I know I'm not the only one who wasn't completely happy during my time here," she looked across the graduates faces, she could tell by certain students' expressions that they knew exactly where she was coming from, "to those of you who feel like me, this is me telling you that it is going to get so much better when we are out in the real world," she made air quotes around real world. "I'm here to tell you that this isn't the end. Even though you might not have gotten the marks you wanted or that crush you pined after for years four through six. This isn't the end. This is only the beginning of a new chapter of our lives and you can do anything you want with this."

She took a moment to compose herself before she continued, she felt completely exhilarated. She knew her face was flushed and her voice had cracked once or twice, but as she looked at the awestruck faces in front of her, she decided she couldn't care less.

"To those of you who have had the time of your lives these past seven years, I'm here to tell you that this is where you take that success and transfer it to the rest of your lives. I know so many of you are brilliant, charming people who will take the last generation of witches and wizards by storm and I'm so glad to know our world will be in your hands."

A quick burst of clapping erupted from graduates and parents.

"To the friends I've made over the years here, thank you for a hell of a ride. To my family, thank you for putting up with my constant reading and studying, and thank you for supporting me in my choices down the road. To the wonderful professors I've learned so much from, thank you for everything you do, it doesn't go unnoticed."

Rose took a deep breath.

"And finally, to my fellow graduates, congratulations. We finally did it."  
Rose thanked the crowd before stepping away from the podium as cheers erupted. She waved to her family and friends as she took her seat next to Albus.

"That was amazing, I can't believe you never told me how great of a public speaker you are," Albus nearly exclaimed as he clapped Rose on the back.

_Don't worry, I had no idea either, _she thought to herself.

Headmistress McGonagall retook the podium and went about her closing remarks before announcing that the students sitting before were now officially Hogwarts graduates. As clapping and whooping erupted, families and friends began to find each other in a wave of chaos. Within minutes Rose was surrounded by red hair and congratulations regarding her speech and academic success.

The rest of the day seemed to go by in a blur; the dinner following the ceremony, the countless congratulations and questions of her future, and a seemingly permanent exhaustion commenced as Rose collapsed onto her bed and immediately fell into the most needed and well deserved sleep of her life.

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**A/N: Thank you for reading, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns feel free to leave a review or PM me!**

**~Shanna**


	2. Interview

**Disclaimer: The world and characters of Harry Potter belong to JK Rowling. I am not her. One can only dream.**

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Three weeks after graduation Scorpius Malfoy stood in the lobby of the Ministry of Magic holding a small slip of paper containing a floor and room number. His final interview for a position in the relatively new Muggle Crime Investigation Office was to be conducted in a half hour. Scorpius was sure to arrive to the Ministry early, he gave that credit to his mother. She might as well have had a pillow with '_To be early is to be on time, to be on time is to be late, to be late is unacceptable' _embroidered on it.

He walked across the lobby to the elevator his father told him he should take and pressed the button for floor five, Department of Muggle Affairs. The newest addition to the Ministry was introduced a few years after the Battle of Hogwarts. Relationships with the higher ups in muggle society had been strained and the branch was developed in order to retain an open line of communication. Various sub-offices were created over the years since its creation but the largest was the MCIO, the office was responsible for working with large muggle investigation offices such as the UK National Crime Agency*, and occasionally the US Federal Bureau of Investigation. The work was similar to that of an Auror, with training just as rigorous. Scorpius had first applied for consideration at the beginning of his seventh year and had undergone two interviews and an aptitude test since then. Only six applicants per year were allowed to move forward into the training process and he had no idea how many other applicants had made it this far or if he had much competition at all as he had not heard of other Hogwarts graduates applying for the same position. However he was told this job was quite competitive with approximately 20 applicants a year.

As Scorpius walked down the long hall filled with doors and paintings of famous witches and wizards, he straightened the knot of the silver tie he had chosen for today. He wore a jet black dress shirt with black trousers and matching belt. His father always told him that an attire of all black would allow him to more easily come off confident and professional. He had no fears about coming off timid or shy today, a Malfoy was never openly nervous. Not that the trait had always come naturally to the young heir.

After twenty minutes of pacing in the waiting room outside the Head of Muggle Affair's office he was called by a short secretary with dark skin and black hair. She knocked twice on the ornate door in the middle of the room, and tall greyed man opened the door almost immediately.

"Thank you Alanna"

The woman nodded and returned to her desk.

The man closed the door behind him, moved behind his desk and proceeded to offer his hand for Scorpius to shake.

"Very good to see you again Mr. Malfoy, I trust you are well?" the man gestured for Scorpius to sit.

"I have been, thank you Mr. Weasley." Scorpius sat, crossing his legs and folding his hands neatly in his lap. A rubber duck sat in the middle of the desk, staring blankly at him as if it could see into his very soul.

"Wonderful. Now I'm not sure if you were informed, but this interview today will not be conducted as your last ones were," Scorpius' eyes widened slightly, a small knot forming in his stomach. Mr. Weasley continued, "Due to the nature of the work you would be undergoing and the way we pair you up with a training partner, we like to administer a bit of a…personality assessment if you will. Nothing to be worried about, really. It's electronic based, we use a muggle type of personality assessment. Obviously it cannot be completely accurate all the time but we have had good results in compatibility of partners so far," Mr. Weasley appeared to be excited by this sort of muggle technology, which didn't surprise Scorpius. His previous interviews with Arthur Weasley made it very apparent as to why he was the Head of Muggle Affairs. He was a great man for the job, one of the friendliest and down to earth Ministry workers Scorpius had met.

Scorpius completed the assessment on a small electronic tablet, called an iPad, he was told. Electronics had begun to become a more normal occurrence throughout the wizarding world, however it was a slow build and the only people who possessed anything from the past twenty years were those who worked with muggles frequently.

As he handed the tablet back to Mr. Weasley, he tapped a few places on the screen and waited a moment for the results to appear. When they appeared he let out a low chuckle, apparently amused.

"I believed you'd get a result similar to this," Mr. Weasley stood up, "congratulations, Mr. Malfoy, you've got the job. You'll be receiving a packet of information from Alanna on the way our regarding your pay and a schedule of the first three weeks of training. You'll meet your partner at our first meeting"

Scorpius thanked him repeatedly and left the office, picking up the aforementioned packet on his way out. He was extremely curious about his test result as well as his mystery partner. He figured they must've done the assessment before he had, as he would not have received the job if he had not been compatible with the other trainee. After all, they only accepted six new trainees each year.

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_* This is a new branch of defense in the UK's government, apparently it's function is similar to that of the US' FBI._

**A/N: Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed. Scorpius didn't get as much characterization as I'd like in this chapter, however in the next few he will definitely start to develop**

**As usual, please review if you have any questions, comments, or concerns!**


	3. Maroon

**Disclaimer: The world and characters of Harry Potter belong to JK Rowling. I am not her. One can only dream.**

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_All trainees are required to wear an assigned color shirt throughout the duration of training, please pick up your entire uniform upon arrival on DAY ONE. Please change into your uniform prior to entering the lecture facility._

Rose laid the parchment on her bed and turned around to look at herself in the mirror of her armoire. Her hair was tied up into a high pony tail, making sure the bottom of her red waves did not pass her shoulders, in accordance to the dress code outlined in her trainee packet. Her clothes were basic, a pair of black trousers and a tight black tank top. She would slip the shirt she was given over the tank top, and she could store her pants in the small rucksack she took everywhere with her. She saw no point in carrying a handbag, especially now with her training beginning.

Lacing up her black trainers, she grabbed her rucksack and the parchment with her training locations and time. As she came downstairs into the kitchen, her parents and younger brother Hugo were sitting at the small table eating breakfast. Grabbing a pastry and cup of orange juice she proceeded to pace around the kitchen, needing to kill time until she and her father left for the Ministry.

"Merlin Rosie, sit down, you're making me nervous," her father jokingly commented.

Her mother, Hermione, just shook her head, "You're going to do just fine, dear. I'm sure today is only orientation anyway."

Rose knew this was likely true, but she had heard numerous comments from people stating that anyone in the Muggle Crime Investigations Unit went through training that was just as hard, if not harder, than the Aurors went through.

"I know it probably is…but what if they decide to throw us into some sort of combat training to eliminate the weak ones?!" Rose gestured to herself. Her mother just raised an eyebrow at her and continued sipping her tea. She finally sat down for a few minutes and finished her pastry.

Checking his watch and standing, her father clapped his hands, "Well we better get going, ready Rosie?"

She stood and grabbed a lightweight jacket from the coatrack, despite it being June, she did not want to walk into the Ministry in a skin tight tank top. Her mother hugged her as she was leaving and wished her good luck.

"Don ged kilt!" Hugo yelled to her as she walked out, his mouth filled with pastry. A satisfying _thwop_ was heard from her mother's hand hitting him upside the head as she shut the door.

Rose and her father apparated to the Ministry and separated to their respective departments, her father worked directly under her Uncle Harry in the Auror office.

Walking into the lobby of the Department of Muggle Affairs, Rose followed the sign directing her to uniform pick up for new trainees. The man sitting behind the desk was appeared relatively young, perhaps a few years older than herself.

"Name?" he asked uninterested.

"Rose Weasley, sir," the man looked perplexed at her manner of addressing him, she gathered that he was only a secretary of some sort.

He flipped through a few pieces of paper and placed the one with her name on it in front of her, "I need you to sign here to indicate you received the correct uniform."

Rose looked down at the paper and saw her name in big capital letters with the word RED after it. She groaned internally, did they not get the message that she had auburn hair? For Merlin's sake her grandfather was head of the department, you'd think they'd see the name Weasley and know the worst possible color she could be stuck in for training was red.

The secretary placed a pile of clothes in front of her, on it sat a long sleeved maroon red shirt. The material was similar to that of certain athletic wear she had felt at Muggle sports stores. Okay so the color wasn't _that _bad, she reasoned. As she walked into the nearby washroom to change into her new uniform, as she looked at herself in the mirror she noted the shirt itself was quite nice; a lightweight formfitting material, but it would keep her arms warm in the chilly Ministry. The trousers she was provided were loose fitting, likely designed for ease of movement in physical aspects of her training. She grinned at her reflection; she had to admit she looked pretty badass for a timid girl of five foot three. She knew she would need to build her strength in order to pass some of the more physical aspects of training, but her build wasn't half bad at the moment for a bookworm.

As she made her way to the lecture hall that the first training session was to be held in, Rose observed her surroundings. After all, this would be her home away from home from now on. The Department of Muggle Affairs was a moderate sized wing of the Ministry, when you first arrived you stood in a large common area, filled with various sofas and chairs, it was likely used as a waiting room. Off of the common room were three large corridors. The one Rose was currently trekking down, the left hallway, was home to the MCIO, the largest branch of Muggle Affairs. The other two hallways housed the smaller offices such as the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts (it had been moved from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement to Muggle Affairs when the Department was founded), an office dedicated to locating new muggle born children and relaying the information to Hogwarts, as well as an office dedicated to dealing with incidents of magic being performed in front of muggles.

As Rose reached her destination she took in a deep breath and opened the door, revealing a small lecture hall built to house a maximum of probably twenty students. A large blackboard filled the front wall while the tables and seats resembled those at Hogwarts, albeit more modern. It was designed amphitheater style, Rose concluded, as each row as you made your way to the back of the room was raised a bit higher than the one in front of it.

As she began to look for a seat, she noticed she was the sixth to arrive, last. Despite that she had at least ten minutes before the assigned training time. An authoritative voice broke her concentration, "Please see to it that you sit next to the person in the room with the same colored shirt as you, they have been selected as your partner based upon similar levels of intelligence as well as high compatibility" Rose looked around the room at her fellow trainees as everyone turned around looking for their match. It wasn't until her eyes fell on her apparent partner, a certain Scorpius Malfoy, looking smug as ever mind you, that her job had felt real at all.

_Oh hell._

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Scorpius watched his fellow trainees slowly trickle into the small auditorium, he was, of course, the first one to arrive. As he observed the other trainees he noticed that none of them had graduated this past year with him. One of the lads as well as a girl, if he recalled correctly, had been a year above him. Another girl had been two years above him, and he was not even sure how old the second guy was. He was at least three years older than Scorpius, he vaguely recognized him, however, he wasn't sure when he had seen the lad. If he was completely honest with himself, Scorpius could have been completely wrong about his new coworkers. He had kept to himself and a small group of friends for most of his time at Hogwarts, he didn't see the point in popularity if he didn't care for the people who he was friends with. Sure, he had numerous acquaintances, most hailing from Slytherin and Ravenclaw house. He had nothing against the other houses, to be honest, but most tended to avoid the Malfoy name as if he were going to revive the Dark Lord himself.

Finally the sixth trainee opened the door, a small redhead Scorpius knew to be Rose Weasley, stood observing the room. She was about to sit down when the large man at the front of the hall instructed for them to find their partner. Looking down at his own shirt, Scorpius realized his partner was none other than the resident Weasley. His eyes found hers and she glanced down at his shirt, the realization coming to her as her eyes widened. Scorpius wasn't sure what her reaction meant. They had never interacted much at school, aside from the occasional assigned pairing in potions class and random short interactions.

As Rose came to sit down next to him and laid out a pencil, he noticed she had not looked at him since their initial eye contact. Initiating the conversation, he turned to her.

"MCIU, Weasley? Can't say I'd have expected that career path out of our valedictorian," there was no indication of distaste in his voice.

Rose slowly turned her head and looked Scorpius dead in the eye, "I could say the same of your choice in career as well, Malfoy."

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**A/N: Thank you for the kind reviews thus far! They are wonderful and completely make my day and I've been taking them into strong consideration as I'm writing. I knew when I started writing this that the true premise wouldn't become apparent until this chapter or the following. I may edit the first chapter to have a small snippit from chapter four or five that sort of gives new readers an idea where things are going. For those still confused, much of this story will involve Rose and Scorpius' various stages of training for the MCIU, both physical and mental, and the personal growth they develop from this. **


	4. Assignment

**Disclaimer: As usual, the world and characters of Harry Potter belong to JK Rowling. I am not her.**

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"Welcome to the Muggle Crime Investigations Unit. Well…assuming you make it through training-and some of you won't, mind you," the tall man at the front of the room boomed an introduction, "My first name is of no concern of yours; feel free to address me by Fletcher. I'm assuming you know the purpose of this division of the Ministry is not unlike that of the Aurors, however, what you may not be aware of is how different this group operates to perform similar tasks."

Trainees exchanged glances with their partners, not sure what to expect out of this man. He was tall, at least six foot three, with a very close haircut. He was definitely handsome in a rugged, been through one too many fights sort of way. He wore a black long sleeved shirt and black trousers; it appeared to be the same uniform the trainees wore.

"Our unit works strictly in pairs, under the idea that two minds will work better than one, nine times out of ten. Because of this we focus a great deal on your relationship with your partner. There will be times that you are sent into the field and will be putting your lives in danger; you need to know how your partner will react to any sort of stimuli. If you cannot accurately gauge your partner's physical, emotional, and mental cues, one of you may end up seriously injured or dead,"

Rose sat frozen in her seat, the air in the room was suddenly tense with everyone looking anywhere but their partner. The reality that you could be the reason for someone else's death was a horror not many would fathom coming into a job, nor was putting your entire trust in another, praying they knew you well enough to prevent any harm from coming to you. Rose wasn't particularly sure which scared her more.

"Lucky for you lot we do quite a bit to prevent such tragedies. Much of your training over the next few months will focus very highly on partner relations. The person sitting next to you will become your best friend and another limb. If you are not willing to cooperate you will only suffer in the end," as he continued his lecture, a woman opened the door and walked next to Fletcher. She exhumed confidence, no doubt another instructor.

"Now if you don't mind, Gwen here will fill you in on what you'll be doing this week," he gestured the woman. She looked almost tiny compared to Fletcher, at least a head shorter than him. No doubt taller than Rose, though. She wore the same thing as her male counterpart; it was however, more slim fit and showed off her broad shoulders and muscular arms.

"As Fletcher was sure to inform you, this job relies heavily on your relationship with your partner. We realize you may not know your partner at all at the moment, so to help you along we are assigning you an exercise that will force you to open up," Rose swallowed, _lovely._

Gwen passed out a stack of papers that had been sitting on the desk in front of the room. As they made their way around the room Gwen continued, "You will be tested on how well you know your partner next Friday. You will each be given a list of questions to fill out, and then you will each receive a new sheet and will answer with how your partner would respond. You should be spending a great amount of time outside of training getting to know each other. We'll get down to the nitty gritty practical knowledge of each other in a few weeks."

Fletcher cut in, "It is probably worth noting that how you score in training will greatly affect you down the road. The better you, as a pair, do in training, the better position you will receive upon completion."

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"So… we should probably get used to eating lunch together, Weasley," Scorpius mused as he quickened his pace to keep up with Rose as she walked hurriedly through the lobby of the Ministry to exit into muggle London. The second half of their morning lecture had been spent going over basic information about how the Muggle justice system worked in the United Kingdom and how it differed from the wizarding world.

"I suppose we don't have much of choice there now do we," she deadpanned in response.

"No, I suppose we don't," Scorpius continued to follow her down a busy road, then off onto a side street until she found her apparent destination at a small café not far from the Ministry. It was a quaint little café, the walls a light green and decorated with black and white photographs from all over London. They sat in one of the small booths situated around the walls, away from the few muggle patrons eating their lunches. The pair sat in silence for much of the meal, only speaking to tell the waiter their order and that yes, the food was lovely. Scorpius, not being able to stand the silence any longer, spoke up.

"I don't understand, you never seemed to have a problem with me while we were students," he leaned back perplexed, "why do you seem so unhappy about this?"

Rose raised an eyebrow, "Can't say I expected you to care too much about what I thought of you, Malfoy."

Scorpius sighed and looked at the girl sitting across from him. No, they hadn't been friends in school, though he never had an issue with her. Rose was quiet, she kept to herself and Scorpius couldn't see what she would have against him aside from general animosity towards his house. He was actually indifferent on the topic of the Weasley and Potter clan. His father told him stories of the group as he grew up, never talking much ill will of any of them aside from Ron Weasley being a half-wit, Hermione Granger-Weasley being a know-it-all, and Harry Potter being an attention whore. Other than that, Draco Malfoy had never talked down about the Golden Trio. Scorpius was, if anything, completely neutral towards Rose Weasley.

"This assignment plays a large role in our future careers, _Weasley._ I'd have expected you to give a bit of a damn about that and not let your own distaste get in the way, considering how hard you worked in school to ensure a well proper job," Rose was taken aback at Scorpius' comment.

"How do you know I don't care?" Rose retorted a bit loudly, mildly offended by the blonde's comment. He tilted his head at her, clenching his jaw. Malfoy's were known for their strong jaws and stone cold expressions, this one sat in front of her was no exception. His grey eyes pierced into her, chilling her to bone.

"I wouldn't know if you did, considering you won't even acknowledge me. I'm going to assume that, at least in your head, I'm not your ideal partner. But apparently whoever is behind our pairing disagrees," his expression softened, "I don't know what it is that has you so reserved, but if we're to know each other inside and out, you might as well start by letting me know."

Rose leaned back against the booth then forward again, crossing and uncrossing her hands, and spoke in a low voice, "Has it occurred to you, that the issue doesn't revolve around you, but in the fact that I don't like the idea of _anyone_ having so much knowledge of me that I trust them in a life or death situation?"

Scorpius looked out the window of the cafe, the reality of the situation finally hitting him. He ran a hand through his short hair, mussing it up. He looked back at Rose, studying her. She was pretty, any man would admit to that, but her green eyes are what made her striking. At the moment they were wide, with a scared look over taking them. Scorpius was not usually the most soft-hearted person. He had been judged and looked down upon for enough of his life to have gained a thick outer shell. Something about Rose Weasley struck him though, he felt they could indeed work together as comrades well; he knew they were both intelligent and from what he had seen of Rose, they were both strong willed. They could accomplish a lot if they could learn to work together. That is if she could learn to put a bit of trust in him.

Scorpius spoke softer than before, "Look, I'm sorry I made this about me. It doesn't change the fact that we should probably get to know each other a bit better. If you're not doing anything tomorrow after lectures you could come over to my flat and we can go over the questions Gwen gave us."

Rose looked at him blankly, "Fine, as long as it makes you drop the topic."

Satisfied with himself, he nodded and proceeded to sit silently, going back and forth with ideas in his head on how he would convince the stubborn Weasley that trusting him would not be the worst thing in the world… or at least he hoped it wouldn't be.

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**A/N: I hope you're enjoying the story so far! Thank you to all those who have reviewed and I'd love it if you reviewed if you haven't already. I'm sorry if updates aren't on a strict schedule, I'm a university student and I'm at a stressful part of the semester.**

**If you have any questions about the story so far feel free to PM me. **

**Special thanks to my boyfriend and two best friends who have helped me greatly on the story so far. **


	5. Personal

**This chapter was already posted but I went back and tweaked and added a few things, I came back to it and wasn't a fan of a few things. **

**I'm terribly sorry for the long hiatus. Honestly, life just happened and I didn't have it in me to write for a while. I'm hoping to continue back with this story now that I have some time on my hands. As always please feel free to read, review, and comment with any thoughts or critiques. **

**The next chapter WILL have more background info that I know people have been looking for. **

**Disclaimer: The world and characters of Harry Potter belong to JK Rowling. I am not her. One can only dream.**

Coming home from her first day of work, Rose marched right up the stairs to her bedroom and lay on her bed, a single sob resonating in her chest. She laid there for ten or so minutes, her long red waves now released from their prison splayed out around her head. A soft knock was heard at her door.

"Rosie?" her mother peeked her head in, and upon seeing her daughter's state immediately sat down next to her.

Rose's hands immediately attempted to cover her face in embarrassment.

"Rough first day?" she presumed, removing one of her hands from her face and giving her a soft smile. She loved her mother's gentle nature whenever she or her brother weren't well.

Rose sat up, hugging her knees to her chest, "Remember how I told you I would be paired up with someone else for the?" Hermione nodded as Rose continued, "I was paired with Scorpius. _Scorpius Malfoy._"

Her mother looked at her confused, "I hadn't realized you were on bad terms with Scorpius?"

She shrugged sheepishly, "I guess I never have been, but Mum they were telling us about how much trust we need between us and I don't know him at all! How do I know I can trust him with my _life_? I wouldn't even trust most of my friends in a life or death situation. Wankers would probably run away and leave me to die."

Hermione pondered what her daughter had told her for a moment, yes, Malfoys had a bad reputation. A well-deserved one at that, Lucius had been a shining paradigm of Death Eater excellence. There was the fact, however, that Draco really hadn't had much of a choice in following his father's footsteps during the war. She knew that much from her time as Head Girl in her eighth year at Hogwarts after the war had ended. She had spent a fair bit of time with the Malfoy and she never once questioned his regret in serving Voldemort.

"I've met Scorpius before, love. Obviously I don't know him as well as you, but from what I've gathered…he has a good head of his shoulders. Your grandfather must have seen that too if he hired him. I think there are far worse people you could have had to put your trust into," she paused for a moment, "as much as I want to tell you that you don't have to do anything that makes you uncomfortable…I think this is for the best. It is your job now, after all."

"I could just quit," Rose mumbled into her knees.

"Yes because I'm sure that's what you planned on doing."

Damn her mother for knowing her so well.

Of course she wasn't going to quit, sweet Merlin how would she tell Grandpa that? No, Rose knew she would have to face the issue at hand one way or another, she wasn't _that _illogical.

"This is going to be quite the effort on my part, isn't it?" Hermione only nodded at her daughter.

Walking into Scorpius Malfoy's flat was the most underwhelming thing Rose had done in quite some time. She hadn't expected a diamond encrusted serpent sculpture to greet her, but she had at least anticipated a slightest hint of Slytherin pride or evidence of his family's wealth. No, the living room in front of her was actually quite cozy with its squashy charcoal colored sofa and armchair. The carpet in the room was off white, and so soft that Rose would have strongly considered lying down on it…if Scorpius wouldn't have thought she had a screw or two loose. The decorating in the flat was quite simple; a few photos of his family and close friends from Hogwarts were on the side tables along with fake flowers. Rose suspected that his mother helped a bit there; Malfoy had never struck her as the interior design type.

After a long day of lectures pertaining to Muggle social norms and how to blend in when working with muggles who were in the dark, those who were not to know about magic, being able to sit in such a comfortable space made Rose almost forget why she was here in the first place. She sank into the corner of the sofa, wanting to fall asleep right there.

"Earth to Weasley, come in Weasley," Scorpius' fingers snapped in front of her.

"You-wha?" coming back to, she shook her head. Scorpius sighed, feeling equally exhausted as his partner. They had been going at this for an hour already and had covered most of the basics. Favorite color, animal, subject in school, whether they were closer with their mother or father. In Scorpius' case he liked navy, tiger, potions, and his mother, respectively. Everything was very basic, the sort of thing that, if Scorpius was quite honest, didn't matter. Although Rose's favorite animal being a bumble bee was quite honestly the most hilarious thing ever. She had made sure to clarify when he gave her an odd look, "The fat friendly little guys, you know, bzzz just gonna pollinate some plants and go make you honey. Not the hornets that get up in your face like buzz buzz motherfucker I'll sting you for looking mate."

Scorpius was mildly amused at Weasley's favorite animal to say the least.

"What's your favorite film?" he questioned exasperated.

Rose's chin fell into her hands so that she could still look at him, "This is pointless, when is knowing my favorite film going to come in handy," she threw her hands up, "like, is some guy going to hold his wand at my throat and only let us go if you can state my favorite film and color?"

Scorpius let out a low chuckle and thought for a moment.

"Alright then, let's get personal then," he looked to her for any sign of protest and when there was none he questioned, "how is it to be the daughter of two thirds of the Golden Trio?"

Rose looked at him confused, the specificity of the question taking her aback. As if he had been wondering about the topic for a while.

"Uh, well, good I guess. I mean…" she looked up at the ceiling, gathering her thoughts, "it's always difficult around the anniversary of the Battle…we get a lot of attention and obviously then people like to turn the spotlight on Hugo and I and everyone wants to know if the ickle babies are living up to expectations."

Rose had only known her parents journey through what they had told her and what she had learned in school. She knew that it wasn't as simple as they made it out to be, she had caught glimpses of the terrors that war cause throughout her life. Moments her parents had not intended for her to see. Her mother subconsciously rubbing the scar Bellatrix Lestrange had given her, her father's tendencies to check locks and warding spells multiple times at night before bed. She had even picked up on her Aunt Ginny and Uncle Harry's trauma, both firsthand and when Albus would confide in her. Over the years the hushed panic attacks grew less and less from her family members as everyone recovered in whatever ways they could.

Scorpius met Rose's gaze, pulling her from her thoughts. The expression he wore, one of genuine curiosity, sparked an interest in her.

"Why, what was it like for you growing up?" she asked him.

"It was fine," he said hurriedly and the young Malfoy's eyes fell from hers.

Rose, picking up on the uncomfortable turn the conversation had taken, immediately retracted her question.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked," she apologized. He met her gaze once more and his hardened expression softened slightly.

"It's alright, I was the one to throw the first stone after all," he leaned back into the chair, holding her gaze, "it's not exactly a topic anyone in the Slytherin house would really discuss. Not that everyone had parents with a shaky history but enough did that you really wouldn't mention someone's family in a past tense."

Scorpius thought back to his closest friends, Margot Zabini, Darren Parkinson, and Vincent Goyle. They had known each other before Hogwarts, even so, the only talk of family was very much in the present tense and avoiding any and all mention of their Death Eater heritage. It was a fact that was accepted but not discussed. There was no pride for their parents or grandparents alignment. If there were any sympathizers left in Slytherin house, there was a point to not bring it up, lest you want to be brought into Headmistress McGonagall's office for a chat about your political beliefs.

Rose looked at Scorpius in genuine interest.

"If it makes you feel better, Gryffindor tip-toed around War topics too," she grimaced to herself, "it was to the point where everyone was completely silent throughout the war unit in class. People would leave and just look at their feet til they got to the next class."

Scorpius nodded, "I'd say that sounds about identical to our experience, though class itself was the most awkward thing ever. I mean imagine having your family mentioned as the bane of existence to the entire class of Slytherins and Hufflepuffs."

Rose nodded knowingly, it was something she was very aware of from her early Hogwarts years. It was one thing being famous for having family who saved the wizarding world; it was another to be known for having family who nearly caused the demise of the wizarding world.

"It's not your fault, you know," Scorpius raised an eyebrow at the girl, "I mean obviously, you weren't born yet. None of us were. Your family's legacy doesn't have to dictate your life."

He let out a low chuckle, "Thank you. My father made sure I knew that growing up. He was never proud of his actions during the war; he wasn't shy on his negative attitude towards my grandfather."

"My mom has always spoke well of your father, you know. They were friends in their final year of Hogwarts"

Scorpius smiled, "I never knew that, actually. My father was careful about whom he spoke of, probably afraid I would repeat something and he'd have his words twisted"

"Can't say I blame him, frankly," Rose pulled her legs up onto the couch, tucking them underneath her, "I'm sure there are people out there who would still love to slander your name, unfortunately"

He snorted, "Believe me there are. People will seek revenge in whatever ways they can. I was always told to be extremely mindful of who I was talking to and what I said to them"

"Yet here you are," Rose smiled, "spilling your inner thoughts with a Weasley"

"Yet here I am," Scorpius' heart let out a hard thud, "though if I'm honest you've got a bit more digging before you get to the inner workings of my mind."

She smirked, "Can't wait"


End file.
